Love Potion Number 9
by nici's anatomy
Summary: Oneshot - Abby is working on a strange experiment and McGee offers his help, although he is not sure how to think about this experiment at all … McGee/Abby


**TITLE:** Love Potion No.9**  
AUTHOR:** nicis_anatomy**  
CHARACTER: **Tim McGee/Abby Sciuto**  
GENRE: **pre-het, General, Humor, Romance**  
RATING: **PG**  
WORD COUNT: **2,100**  
SUMMARY: **Abby is working on a strange experiment and McGee offers his help, although he is not sure how to think about this experiment at all … Written for day #02 "Unicorn" for lj's ncisdaily.**  
WARNINGS: **English still isn't my native language (although I wish) and the story is not beta'd.**  
DISCLAIMER: **I don't own these characters (although I'd love to own Action Figure Gibbs), nor am I making any money from them. If I would Season 5 would have ended different. Severus Snape isn't mine, either, but the potion is made up by me (no idea what ingredients you really need ...)

~*~*~*~*

„Unicorn blood … where on earth do I get unicorn blood? I am so close and now this … Bert, what have I done to deserve this?" Abby interrupted her pacing and looked at Bert. "So close," she repeated, giving the hippo an assertively reproachful glance, as if it was Bert's fault that Abby had she had brought herself into this miserable position. "I was so close and now I can't find the last ingredient." Grabbing her Caf-Pow! in passing, Abby started pacing her lab again, restless and more unsatisfied by the second.

"Abby?" McGee, who had been watching her for a while now, trying to figure out what was bothering her so much, finally left his spot by the door. Walking over to her, he noticed the instruments Abby had arranged on the table, and he wondered what case she was working on and why this case was obviously driving her insane.

Work had been really quiet lately, and everything the team was doing all week was working on old report or long-overdue paperwork; no dead petty officer, no arms dealer to catch, no threats against someone, no one was trying to frame one of them ... there wasn't even the slightest chance of an unexpected visit by the FBI preventing them from dying off boredom. Not that McGee wished for someone's death and he could live without another internal investigation, but something needed to happen soon, before Gibbs was going to kill Tony - if Ziva did not get there first, of course.

After he had spend two hours listening to Tony's unstoppable rambling, McGee had decided to check on Abby and see how she would keep herself occupied or if there was anything he could help her with, and it seemed as if he had arrived right in time.

Abby looked more nervous and hyper than usual, but what would be positive for others, was absolutely deathly for Abby, and McGee tried to get a look at the trash can to check how many Caf-Pow! Abby had had today. To his surprise he couldn't find any empty cups, except for the one, Abby was holding in her hand right now. Either she'd thrown them away anywhere else or it was indeed her first energy drink today. The latter would mean that her strange mood was caused by something else, and McGee wasn't sure, if this was a good thing or not.

"What are you doing, Abs?" he asked, stepping in her way to stop her from walking a rut into the floor.

"McGee!" Abby shouted. As usual, she seemed excited to see him, but - also as usual - McGee tried not to read anything in her excitement. He still wished she would be happy to see him as a person, as a man, or as a friend instead of just being happy for the company or the help he provided, but after four year, he had slowly started to give up any hope that he would ever be more again to her than just a distraction or an additional pair of hands. He still loved Abby and he was almost certain that he would never stop loving her, but he also knew that she didn't feel the same for him. Most of the time, he could live with that, but sometimes – like now - it just hurt to see her and not being allowed to hold her, to kiss her or do other things, friends or colleagues normally didn't do.

"I'm so glad to see you. I need your help." Placing the Caf-Pow! back on the table, she put her arms around Tim, hugging him tightly.

"How did you know, I needed you? Did Gibbs teach you to read my mind? Because he's always there when I am about to call him and …" she asked, when she finally let go off him again.

"Slow down, Abby!" McGee grinned. "I didn't know you wanted to see me," he answered. "I was just… in the neighbourhood and I thought you could use some company. What are you doing?" He pointed at the table. "Looks complicated."

"It is complicated, McGee." Abby sighed. "It really is."

"Are you working on an old case?"

"Case?" Abby looked at him, confused. "No, this isn't a case. This is an experiment." Taking his hand, she led him over to the table. "I'm trying to make a potion. A love potion."

"A… love potion?" McGee asked confused, although he already knew by now that Abby was full of surprises and always doing things you'd least expect, but breeding a love potion was really unusual - even for her. "Why are you working on a love potion?"

"Because, McGee," Abby replied, looking at him, as if he'd just lost his mind, by questioning her. "We have this bet at our science club. This guy, Peter, and I argued about the Harry Potter books the other day, and he claimed that Rowling had no idea about potions and science in general. He said, she just made all these potions up, but I told him, she totally knows what she's doing and… well, I have to buy him dinner, if … when I can't proof I'm right and now I'm stuck." Abby sighed, giving McGee the same its-all-your-fault look she'd given Bert earlier.

"I have all the ingredients for this love potion, except for one," she explained. "And I can't get it. It's stupid. Really." Abby sighed, deeply, and grabbed her Caf-Pow!. She was about to start her pacing again, but McGee stopped her, by putting both hands on her shoulder.

He tried not to laugh, but it was hard to keep a serious face, while he tried to imagine Abby breeding a potion she got out of a children's book. And to make things even worth, it was a fantasy book about witchcraft and wizards… Sometimes, Abby really seemed to be out of touch with the real world. But McGee had learned never to question Abby or her ideas, if he wanted to stay alive or ever be able to have own kids. Reminding himself of Abby's powers to kill someone without leaving any evidence, he refrained from laughing, raising an eyebrow instead.

"What is it you're missing?" he asked. "Maybe I can help you."

"Only if you know someone who owns a unicorn," Abby said, sighing again. "I need blood of a unicorn taking on a full moon. But it's neither a full moon, nor can I find someone having a unicorn in the backyard. I guess I should give up and just take Peter out to dinner." Abby shrugged and returned to the table, looking at the ingredients she'd already prepared. Seeing her in this state, she always looked like a small kid to him and he had the urge to huge her and to tell her that everything was going to be all right. At the same time, McGee also felt a new wave of jealousy growing inside of him, and he looked down. He would have done anything to help Abby to keep her away from that Peter guy, but how on earth was he supposed to do this, when there was no such thing as unicorns – or their blood?

Taken the copy of 'Fantastic Beasts and where to find them' in his hands, he thought about a way to help Abby and at the same time getting out of this whole thing - alive and without providing everyone who'd ever learn about this a reason to make fun of him, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a solution, everyone could live with.

"Maybe… maybe we can work something out," he suggested, choosing his words carefully to not upset Abby more than she already was. "Maybe there is a substitute for a unicorn's blood; something synthetically with the same effects …"

"You don't think that Severus Snape would have approved of something synthetically, do you, McGee?" Abby asked, again looking at him, as if he'd lost his mind – her counterpart to a Gibbs-slap that had the same impact on him. Nervously, McGee cleared his throat a few times, before he was sure he could trust his voice again.

"Of course not, Abby," he assured her. "I was just… well, thinking. Blood has specific components. When we can figure out what effects the single components have and how they react with the other ingredients, we could… well, maybe we can make it work without the unicorn."

"McGee, you are a genius!" Abby hugged him tightly, and this time, McGee was brave enough to put his arms around her, keeping her close for as long as she would allow him, and he was surprised how long the hug lasted; longer than any hug they'd shared in a long time, and longer than any other hug she'd given Tony or Gibbs or anyone else in his presence.

It felt so good that when they finally parted, he'd lost all his nervousness and insecurity, and he could even ignore how stupid and childish this project was he and Abby worked on for the next hour. A love potion made with the help of a children's book … he'd done many things in his life, and the most stupid and ridiculous things he had done since he started working at NCIS. And when he thought about it, it wasn't that different from the experiments he'd done back in highschool or at MIT. In the end it was all just science; action and reaction, reasoning and combination, trial and error … the only difference was that they were working with a fantasy novel instead of a textbook.

But aside from that … it was pure experimenting, and the liquid they had produced in the end actually looked pretty close to what was described in the novel.

"We did good, Timmy," Abby said beaming, while McGee checked the blood red, dark liquid, adjusting the heat a bit.

Tim nodded. "Well, we don't know, if it works, but …"

"Don't destroy this magical moment, McGee." Covering his mouth with her hand, Abby interrupted him. "You need to have faith and believe in yourself and what you do. Otherwise it won't work. Nothing would. Do you understand?"

McGee nodded, unsure if he really understood what she tried to tell him, but the magical twinkle in her eyes, kept him from saying anything else. He didn't want to destroy that moment by some stupid comment or rational thinking. When Abby was happy, he was happy. When she was unhappy, he would be unhappy … that was a simple rule he learned to follow when he was with Abby, and right now Abby seemed really happy. She even hugged him again, and like before she didn't let go of him immediately. Instead, she allowed him to put his arms around her, pulling her closer.

"Abby?" he asked after a while. "Do you think … maybe … I mean … would you like to have dinner with me tonight?" He had no idea where this question came from or where he took the courage from to ask her out on a date, like he had wanted to, for so long now, but when Abby just nodded against his shoulder, kissing his cheek, instead of calling him an idiot for destroying this moment by asking a stupid question, he knew it had been the right thing to do.

And later, when he was on his way back upstairs he even started to wonder, if it was courage that had been the missing ingredient for Abby's love potion. Figuratively, the courage to harm beauty by taking the blood of a innocent and yet powerful magical creature, and - transferred to life - the courage to fight for what you believe in; the courage to do something yourself instead of waiting for someone else to make the first move. Maybe the courage to ask Abby out, instead of waiting forever for her to ask him out …

"He, McGee, what's wrong with you?" Ziva asked, when he returned to his desk, beaming like someone who'd just won the lottery.

"Do you believe in magic, Ziva?" he asked, instead of answering her question. "If not, you should… you really should." Sitting down at his desk, he grabbed the next file from the pile, humming a song about love and potion, his mother used to listen to when he was a child, and generously ignoring Tony's new nickname he instantly came up with. McGee was still too distracted and too happy to be annoyed by a name like 'McGlee'.

**- The End -**


End file.
